The present invention relates to a device for automated payment of the fee for the attachment of an advertising medium to a vehicle.
The commercial attachment of advertising media to vehicles has been known for a long time. Advertising sheets are frequently attached, for example, to large surfaces of public transportation vehicles such as buses, street cars, commuter trains, subways, or taxis. The businesses which are advertised on these sheets pay a certain fee for this to the operators of the public transportation vehicles or taxi companies. This fee can be paid, for example, at certain time intervals.
In order to assure that the advertising medium is properly attached to the vehicle, an employee of the advertising company or a business authorized to do so performs visual inspections of the vehicle from time to time. This monitoring process incurs considerable costs due to the high cost of personnel. In order to maintain a justifiable relationship between the costs, which are incurred by the attachment of the advertising medium and the visual inspections, and the economic effect achieved by the advertisement, the visual inspections have up to now only been performed at relatively long time intervals.
With regard to the general technological field, the following references are of interest:
WO-A-94/28526 has disclosed supplying data to vehicles, for example at filling stations, which are then communicated to the passengers of the vehicle when they resume their travel.
DE-A-44 33 569 has disclosed that customers in a supermarket or the like are first shown which products are being offered at a discount on a display/input device and then, through the corresponding actuation of a keypad of the display/input device, the products that they are interested in can be selected. However, the discount is only given if it is later determined at the cash register that the relevant product has also actually been purchased.
Finally, DE-U-93 20 892 has disclosed a utilization control system for ski lifts and aerial cableways which carries out a contact-free inspection as to whether a person has the right to enter the ski lift or aerial cableway.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device that automatically inspects the attachment of an advertising medium to a vehicle and automatically pays the vehicle owner or vehicle driver, such as by applying a credit towards a purchase or in some other manner, if the advertising medium is properly placed on the vehicle.
The foregoing object is attained according to the invention by means of a device for automated payment of the fee for the attachment of at least one advertising medium to a vehicle, which includes a first communication device disposed at a control point and a second communication device disposed on the advertising medium, wherein the second communication device supplies data for the first communication device by means of which the presence of the advertising medium on the vehicle can be verified, as well as a device for issuing a credit as payment for the attachment of the advertising medium to the vehicle depending on the result of the presence check. The automatic inspection of the proper placement of the advertising medium on the vehicle takes place through the communication of the two communication devices. If the results of the inspection are positive, then a credit is automatically issued as payment for the attachment of the advertising medium to the vehicle.
One of the advantages of the automatically executed inspection according to the invention as to the proper placement of the advertising medium on the vehicle as well as the automatic payment to the vehicle owner can naturally be viewed in terms of the reduction in cost which goes along with the complete elimination of human labor. This permits the time intervals between two subsequent inspections to be shortened so that a large quantity of vehicles, among others private vehicles as well, can now be considered for the attachment of advertising media and a national advertising program can be efficiently mounted. An increased efficiency of the inspection and billing process, the prevention of human error, and the prevention of intentionally false actions in inspection and billing can be mentioned as additional advantages. Finally, it should also be emphasized that there is the possibility of a simple incorporation of the invention into existing IT systems.
In order to be able to assure the shortest possible inspection intervals even if the length of the time interval between two succeeding inspections is not stipulated, places that are frequently visited by vehicles anyway can be considered as control points. This is the case with filling stations and/or toll booths, for example.
If the credit is calculated directly into the amount to be paid at the filling station and/or toll booth, then the driver of the vehicle can be offered a further incentive to visit the control point frequently. Basically, however, it is likewise possible to issue the credit in the form of a credit receipt which can then be redeemed at a subsequent stop at the control point or at other locations, for example stores and the like. Finally, another possibility is to issue the credit by means of a corresponding entry on a read/write storage medium such as a chip card or magnetic strip card. In this case, the credit can be redeemed at any location that accepts this card as a method of payment. However, the read/write storage medium can also be fixed to the vehicle or the advertising medium and can, for example, simply permit the crediting of amounts to be paid at this control point or other comparable ones. It should be emphasized at this point that the first communication device and the device for issuing the credit can be embodied as one functional unit.
The first communication device and the second communication device can be designed for a unidirectional communication as well as for a bidirectional communication. In the case of unidirectional communication, the second communication device simply supplies data which can then be detected by the first communication device. To this end, the second communication device can include for example at least one bar code disposed on the advertising medium, while the first communication device has a bar code reading device for detecting the at least one bar code. The bar code can contain all data necessary for issuing the credit. If a number of bar codes are distributed over the surface of the advertising medium, then in addition to checking for the mere presence of the advertising medium on the vehicle, the first communication device can also check the integrity of the advertising medium. In this instance, for example, the advertising medium can be viewed as intact if the first communication device detects and confirms the presence of all of the originally provided bar codes.
In order to increase the reliability of the process it can be advantageous if the vehicle owner or vehicle driver does not know and cannot tell where the data supplied by the second communication device is disposed on the surface of the advertising medium. In this case, provision can be made that the first communication device includes a camera and an image processing unit and/or pattern recognition unit for detecting at least one surface feature of the advertising medium and this surface feature constitutes the second communication device.
By disposing several of such surface features in various locations spaced apart from one another on the surface of the advertising medium, it becomes possible in turn to check the integrity of the advertising medium.
As mentioned above, the communication between the two communication devices can also be bidirectional communication. To this end, the first communication device can xe2x80x9caskxe2x80x9d the second communication device for the necessary data, whereupon the second communication device actively transmits this data to the first communication device. For example, the first communication device can include an interrogator which initiates a data exchange connection with a transponder of the second communication device. The transponder of the second communication device can, for example, be a passive transponder, i.e. a transponder without its own energy supply. Passive transponders of this kind are intrinsically known in the prior art and therefore need not be explained in detail here.
As explained above, it is advantageous to check the integrity of the advertising medium. To this end, the provision can be made that the second communication device includes at least one sensor unit for detecting the integrity of the advertising medium. This can for example include a conductor loop and a resistance sensor, wherein the conductor loop advantageously extends at least in surface regions that are highly significant for achieving the desired advertising effect. With the aid of the resistance sensor, a detection can be performed as to whether the conductor loop has been broken or not. If the conductor loop is not broken, it can be determined from this that the advertising medium is intact.
For the case of bidirectional communication between the two communication devices, the particular proposal is made that the second communication device is designed to receive and store data which are sent to it by the first communication device. For example, if a detection has established that the advertising medium is present and if need be, has established that it is intact, and there is also no other obstacle to issuing a credit, the two communication devices can exchange a time signal and at least one of the two communication devices can store the time corresponding to the current instant.
The next time the vehicle stops at or passes by a control point, a determination can be made based on this time data as to whether or not a predetermined time interval has passed since the preceding issuance of a credit. If too little time has passed since the last credit was issued, then this could be a reason to deny the issuance of a new credit even if the advertising medium is present and intact. In a simple manner, this measure can prevent the owner of a vehicle equipped with an advertising medium from fraudulently emptying the tank after filling up the vehicle at a discount due to a credit, and subsequently returning to the filling station in order to refuel the vehicle and claim another discount.
The length of this preset time interval can be agreed upon between the vehicle owner and the advertising company as a function of vehicle usage, for example as a function of the distance that the vehicle has to travel in a predetermined period of time. By means of this, the advertising company can accord a preferential treatment to vehicle owners whose vehicle is driven extensively and consequently produces a high degree of advertising visibility. The maintenance of the agreed-upon amount of driving can be monitored, for example, through occasional visual inspections of the vehicle.
As another feature of the invention it is also possible that one of the communication devices supplies data regarding the time at which the advertising medium is attached to the vehicle. Namely, if the advertising company or an agency appointed by it always sets the contracts with the vehicle owners for a predetermined time period, then this data is enough to determine whether the life of the contract has already expired and to possibly avoid issuing a credit after the life of the contract expires.
However, if flexible contract periods should be desired, then the provision can furthermore be made that the second communication device supplies data regarding the duration of the agreed-upon attachment of the advertising medium to the vehicle.
Particularly, if there is also an active vehicle identification device in the vehicle, which supplies data identifying the vehicle to the first communication device, it is advantageous if the second communication device also supplies data about the vehicle to which the advertising medium should be attached. Through a comparison of the data of the vehicle identification device on the one hand and of the second communication device on the other, a check can also be made as to whether the advertising medium is actually attached to the vehicle contractually agreed upon. This increases the security of the device according to the invention against fraudulent misuse.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, an approach detection device can also be provided which activates the first communication device and/or the second communication device upon detection of an approach of the vehicle to the control point. The approach detection device can include an induction loop, for example placed in a driving surface of the control point.
The advertising medium can, in an intrinsically known manner, include a sheet printed with the advertisement, i.e. an essentially two-dimensional body. However, it is likewise possible that the advertising medium includes a three-dimensional body, for example a stylized bottle or the like, which can be disposed on the roof of the vehicle. Finally, it is also conceivable that the advertisementxe2x80x94particularly with a longer contract lifexe2x80x94can also be attached by means of being painted on. In this instance, the advertising medium is the paint of the vehicle.
In both cases, however, it is advantageous if the advertising medium is embodied and/or can be disposed on the vehicle in such a way that on the one hand, it can be removed without damaging the vehicle but on the other hand, it can only be removed from the vehicle by destroying the advertising medium itself. For the case of advertising sheets, this can be achieved, for example, through the use of an adhesive on the back side of the sheets which can easily be removed from the vehicle finish and through the provision of incisions at definite points of the outer edge of the sheet or the sheet surface, as is known for example from highway decals in Switzerland or Austria or Txc3x9cV [Technischer xc3x9cberwachungsverein, Technical Control Association] plaques in Germany. When the sheet is removed from the vehicle, the sheet tears at the locations provided for this, which renders the sheet unusable. The tendency to easily tear in the event of a non-contractual attempt to remove the sheet can be further enhanced through the suitable choice of the material for the sheet. In the event that the above-disclosed conductor loop used for integrity inspection is provided, it should extend at least in the region of the above-described intentional tearing points in the vicinity of the sheet edge.
According to another aspect, the invention relates to a process for payment of the fee for the attachment of at least one advertising medium to a vehicle. With regard to the possible process variants and the advantages that can be achieved by them, reference is made to the above discussion of the device according to the invention.
Finally, the invention also relates to an advertising medium that is equipped with a transponder and is configured to be attached to a vehicle. Reference is also made to the above discussion in regard to the advantages that can be achieved with this advertising medium.
The invention will be explained in detail below in an exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.